busycoupe

I visited Nuchrome in Jan. 2009. They were going through some kind of reorganization at the time. Their acid and plating vats were empty and about to be re-filled. I left my bumper and half the cost of plating. I got a call 30 days later to pick it up. I did, and the work was done well. I don't know if they have cleaned up their act, or if I happened to get there at the right time. I had heard stories like Skrambler's. but decided to take a chance with them anyways. I think that I was lucky. Can anyone recommend a good place to get my other bumper chromed? Dave

It can be repaired, but it is a very labor intensive job. I visited a chrome shop in Massachusetts and they showed me how they rebuild the metal by filling holes by welding (brazing?) They then grind the patch to shape and buff. The raw metal has to be polished as smooth as the final plating or else the plating will show scratches. The piece is then copper plated, buffed again, then chrome plated. There are many shops that will do this for a price. ($$$) Paul's Chrome is one shop listed in Hemmings. The place I visited was NuChrome in Fall River, MA. I had good luck with them plating my bumper, but I have heard that some people have had problems with them, so I am reluctant to recommend them. The pot metal can be made to look new, but the cost to do all of the pieces on one of our old cars can easily be more than the car is worth. Good Luck, Dave

Check the major and minor adjustments again. These brakes do not take up extra slack the way more modern Bendix brakes do, the shoes need to be very close to the drums, but not dragging. The correct procedure is to have the radius of the shoes ground to match the diameter of the drums. I must admit, I did not do this and my brakes seem to work well. - Again, check the shoe adjustments. Dave

Also make sure that there is no air in the gas line. After replacing my gas line I left it disconnected at the pump then held my hand over the filler pipe and used my air compressor to push fuel through the line to prime it. After reconnecting the line the car started and ran fine. Dave

Many of the old sedans had a rope across the back of the front seat. I was told that it was to hold a lap robe for the back seat passengers. I remember one in my Father's '52 Chrysler Windsor when I was a kid. (kids had a good view of the back of the front seat) Dave

The regulator is not very complicated. The service manual has instructions for setting the contact point gaps. I was able to open mine, clean the contacts with a point file and check the gaps. It now works great. Might be worth a try before ordering one overseas. Dave

I wish you a speedy recovery. My best to you and Lynn. Take care, Dave

I bought parts from Berbaum's a couple of years ago and was helped by someone named Chris. I wonder if the Chris who bought out Andy worked for him for a while. Dave

Mark, here is another winter flea market that is small, but pretty good. It is run by the Model A restorers club and although it is heavy on Model A stuff, it has a lot of old parts, literature, etc. I bought a Motors Manual, some bumper bolts, and few other things there 2 years ago. It is held in a bus company garage and there is even a small museum run by the bus company owner. - Get there early, they start packing up by 10:30. Dave March 4 7am - 11am Marcom Annual Automotive Flea Market Sponsored by Model A Ford Restorers Club of Massachusetts Holmes Transportation Bldg, 22 Myrtle Street, Norfolk, MA Map To Register: call Dean Zwicker at 508-285-3211

I went a few years ago. It was OK for a day out to fight cabin fever, but I didn't see much for our cars. Most of the stuff was for 60's muscle cars and newer. There were some tool vendors there if your looking for something. I'd go again, but it is a long ride from NC! Dave

I know what a tach measures, and an hour meter, but what is a "motor mile"? Dave

1969. I was a Junior in HS and learned on my Father's 66 VW squareback and the school driver ed. car. The school had a 69 Mustang with a 3 spd stick. In those days you chose whether to get tested on standard or automatic. I chose standard because my father's car was a stick. Also if you had an "automatic license" you weren't supposed to drive stick, but if you tested on a stick you could drive an automatic. Dave

James, I didn't replace the entire seal. I did not want to drop the trans and fluid drive unit to get access to to the top half of the seal so I simply dropped the oil pan, removed the bearing block and replaced the bottom half of the seal. I also snugged up the bolts holding the top half using a thin wrench. Replacing the bottom half only stopped better than 90% of the leaks from the rear. I still use a drip pan on the garage floor, but it typically only has a dime or quarter sized spot on it. Dave

I don't think that I used the "best gasket" brand, but that looks exactly like the one I used in my car a year ago. Your picture didn't show them, but the box should also contain a couple of black rubber pieces to seal between the bearing block and the engine block. Dave

I had a 65 Mustang convertible for a few years about 10 years ago. I fixed it up so that I could drive it, but it was at the point that if I wanted to take it to the next level it was going to need lots of expensive body and engine work. I sold it and bought a 71 Triumph motorcycle to play with. After a few years of playing with motorcycles I decided to get another old car. I liked the looks of the late '30s Plymouth coupes and started looking around for one I could afford. While I was looking I stumbled across my D24 business coupe on craigslist. It is far from a perfect car, but the price was right. I bought it in April 2007 and it has kept me busy ever since! It always gets a lot of attention when I take it to a cruise or show because it is usually the only '40s Mopar there. Dave

James, your method for checking the camber seems like it would be difficult to use. The tire sidewalk bulges out on he bottom side of the tire, more so with radials but some still a noticeable amount on a bias ply tire. Perhaps with a little calculation your method would work with the top and bottom edges of the rim. Dave

I just finished chasing a similar problem on my car. The car sat for a couple of months then when I started it it ran strong for 10 minutes then died. I blew out the line, checked the pump, swapped in a spare pump.....no joy. I replaced 10 feet of fuel line that appeared to be original, and rusty. Bingo, there was a series of rust holes on top of line where it passed through a body support bracket. Put back together it started, ran well for 10 minutes and died. Finally a buddy helped me blow out the line, yet again, and he heard a whistle under the battery. We removed the line and found a small hole, about 1/32 inch diameter where the line passed over the front suspension mount. We replaced the last 6 feet of line, put it together and now it runs great! I guess I am saying that you should check the entire fuel line carefully, or if it is old just replace the whole thing, it is not very expensive. Dave

I have a 48 Dodge 3 window coupe. The rear window for mine is: Part type code 23-64-314, part # 892 819. That is for a '46 to '48 D24 coupe. The roofs sure look the same on the 41 and 42 Dodge 3 window coupes, as well as on the Chrysler Royal 3 window coupes, although I do not have any references to check the numbers. Unfortunately all of these models are somewhat rare so finding a good back glass will probably be difficult. Dave

Removing and installing the master cylinder is a piece of cake if you remove the floor section. When I bought my car the master cylinder was bad also. The previous owner had riveted the floor section in place and I tried to remove the master cylinder from under the car. After struggling with it for more than an hour i drilled out the rivets and removed the floor. With the floor out of the way the cylinder comes out in minutes. Reassembly is also easy, you assemble the pedals with the master before you bolt it to the frame. Dave

I had a 94 Dodge conversion van that had an automatic trans with overdrive. It would get 15mpg around town and 17-18mpg on the highway. Dave

I received this email from Rock Auto after my last order from them a few weeks ago. The discount code is supposed to be good until late Jan. Dave Thank you for being a www.RockAuto.com customer! To show our appreciation, we have a special discount for you. Your discount code is: RockAuto uses Customer Lobby to collect customer surveys. Please take a moment to complete a short survey: Click to Review RockAuto.com at Customer Lobby 76602026337346 Using Your Discount Code Enter the code above in the "How did you hear about us" line of the shopping cart. If you are using our traditional HTML catalog, please click the "Apply" button to the right of the field. Your discount will automatically appear, subtracted from your order total. Orders using discount codes must be placed online. Phone orders are not eligible for discounts. Please note: We sometimes get calls from people who put the word "discount" in front of their code and do not get the discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. The discount takes 5% off our already-low prices. There's no limit on order size or the number of orders. Use the code for your next order, and share the code with friends, neighbors, relatives, the guy at the corner garage--anyone you know who works on cars or trucks. This discount code expires on January 29, 2012; so don't wait!

You may have seen my post about replacing the neoprene rear seal. I could not replace the top half of the seal with the motor in the car because there was not enough clearance to get a wrench in, and the bolts out. My car has fluid drive, so perhaps the flywheel is different than on your car. My engine is a P23 block, which I think is a '51 or '52 Plymouth block. Just replacing the bottom half of the seal made a huge difference in how much oil my engine lost. .. Don't forget to replace the 2 little rubber pieces that press into the top of the bearing block. Dave

I'm not sure, but possibly the needle valve in the carb is not sealing properly. It could be worn or perhaps a bit of dirt is in it, or possibly the float is not floating high enough. It would be fairly easy to check. Dave

I think that the window stickers, as we now know them, came into use sometime in the late 50's early 60's. There must have been some other way of listing the price on our cars. I just found this on the web: http://www.nwccc.net/garage/window_stickers.html Dave

I'm envious Bob. My car is on stands in the garage. I have been replacing motor mounts, front engine seal etc. and is still a week or two away from taking a ride. Your first picture looks like it could have been taken in my neighborhood, the only difference is that around here in eastern NC little patches of white on the side of the road are cotton! I'm glad that you can have fun in the car in Dec. Was Cooper with you? Dave